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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > What Cleft Sentences question
What Cleft Sentences question
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Sharwong
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What Cleft Sentences question
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Hi fellow teachers,
Right now I �m teaching CAE and the focus was on What cleft sentences, where the focus can be on an object, verb phrase, subject or the whole sentence.
eg. I love apples. What I love is apples. (focus on object)
I wrote an essay. What I did yesterday was write an essay (focus on verb or verb phrase)
Now the tricky sentence I wrote for the students to transform was
The tenses are the most difficult part of English. (focus on the subject)
My intuition was that you can say
What are the most difficult part of English is the tenses. However a student asked if it was better to say "What is the most difficult part.... I say not....but it was a challenge to explain
Cleft phrases are always singular thus the is/was in the middle of the sentence, but this isn �t the issue.
This was a puzzler and caused alot of debate in the teacher �s room.
Sharon
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15 May 2014
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douglas
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IS- "part" is singular
However, shouldn �t the "is" come later (not in question form)? :
What the most difficult part of English is the tenses.
or
What the most difficult part of English is is the tenses. (?)
(although these too sound very awkward)
Cheers,
Douglas |
16 May 2014
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cunliffe
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I think that �s OK: �What the most difficult part of English is is the tenses. � Maybe it does look funny, with �is is� but it�s fine to say this. |
16 May 2014
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yanogator
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Right, Lynne. Not Douglas �s first one, because the main clause doesn �t have a verb.
As Douglas said, it is definitely not "are", because "part" is singular.
As the others are saying, this is just an awkward construction, but it is grammatically correct, so if you want to use it, use "What the most difficult part of English is is the tenses.
As a side note, use "a lot" not "alot". Maybe you just missed the spacebar.
Bruce |
16 May 2014
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Sharwong
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Thanks for your help.
However "What the most difficult part of English is is the tenses focuses on the "object" of the sentence (The most difficult part of English is the tenses)
In this sentence
Rainy weather annoys me the most------What annoys me the most is rainy weather.
It doesn �t really answer my question when the focus should be on the subject of the sentence.
If I use the same pattern, (The tenses are the most difficult part of English--focusing on the subject of the sentence) ---"What are the most difficult part of English is the tenses"
Can it be plural or singular after the What?
Any clarification would help. Thank you.
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16 May 2014
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dackala
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I think that your construction of a sentence is wrong, so you can �t do anything with it. Don �t give that example to your students again, since the construction is not correct. The reason is this-you can �t use a question form � what are the most difficult part � since you �re breaking the rule of making indirect questions, so it is impossible to make a good explanation with this one, so choose another sentence for your students.
�Where�s the bathroom?�
�Where�s the bathroom?�
I hope I helped
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16 May 2014
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douglas
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In your first example the same thing happens: "I love apples. What I love is apples."
But if you insist on the plural then change it to "parts and it works:
"What the most difficult parts of English are are the tenses." |
19 May 2014
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